Ben
Blackthorne, the bastard son of an English aristocrat and former lieutenant in
His Majesty's Army, is in self-imposed exile in Paris in 1803 when war breaks
out once again between England and the old enemy France, a country more and
more under the control of Napoleon Bonaparte. Ben is not overly concerned about
this, until a fellow military man entrusts him with a packet of paper that has
to be taken to England. With the help of Royalists, a beautiful woman called
Dominique, and those who just don't like Bonaparte, he is smuggled out of
France back to safety in England where he delivers the papers and thinks that
is an end to the matter. However, the pull of Dominique is too much and against
his better judgement, Ben decides to go back into the lion's den.
Ben is an
arresting character; we watch him develop and grow into himself, a
hero-in-training, not the finished article, but close to it by the time we
leave him. He is filled with self-doubts and a huge black cloud looms large
over him, but he finds a way to dispel that as he also finds a use for himself.
Dominique is
not a typical female lead, not at all soft or useless; strong, powerful,
independent, very modern and real. You have to like her.
To nit-pick -
and with books this good you desperately want them to be perfect - the
denouement is possibly a bit rushed and lacks the emotional power of other
passages. Otherwise the plot works, the structure of the story is good, the
characters well drawn and compelling, and the style is wonderful.
© Nicky
Galliers
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